Selling a home in today's market can be tough and that is an understatement for homeowners who bought in 2005-2007 in the Charleston SC real estate market. I had to have a heart to hear with myself and take my own advice I would give to any other seller. The 2 biggest hurdles that I have to help sellers jump is price and condition.
Appraised value and market value are 2 very different things. In buyer's markets, value and price do not always meet in middle. What you paid for a property or what you need to get out of it does not determine price either. I admit I had this discussion with myself as I argued about what price to list my home. After all, we had put over $25,000 in upgrades in this home and we should get our money back out, right? ...hardwood floors, ceramic tile, granite countertops, flagstone patio, landscaping, blinds, etc. I'd love to just break even at least but the reality of the situation is that the builder had dropped prices, offering the same upgrades; there was a foreclosure listed at a significant discount around the corner AND there had not been a successful re-sale in my subsection in over 1.5 years. In today's market based on what has sold and what is on the market, I struggled on the price because what kind of realtor would I be if I put the sign in the yard and it stays up for months and months on my own house?! Well, we bit the bullet and decided on a painful price slightly less than what we paid for the home and much less than the $25,000 we dumped into it.
Now the next hurdle, addressing the condition. I like to think we had a nice home, very trendy with lots of upgrades. Who wouldn't want to buy it?! I had my stager, Melissa Marro come in from the First Impression team for a staging consultation. Per her recommendations, we did a lot of painting and packing to get ready. Then the showcasing began with the finishing touches by the stager to make sure furniture placement was right and add artwork and some missing pieces like a bed in the 3rd bedroom and patio furniture outside.
Then comes the marketing. I took photos of every room including the exterior, yard, and screen porch and patio, making sure to find the best lighting and taking photos from different angles. We even light a fire in the fire pit on the patio for photos so buyers could visualize using this additional space. I also took photos of the neighborhood amenities and streetscape. I made sure to upload the survey of the property, the Covenants and Restrictions, a copy of the floorplan, and created a flattering virtual tour to include photos of the house, yard, streetscape and amenities. The home book had the Seller's Disclosure, along with the survey, Covenants and Restrictions, floorplan, name of utility companies and average bill, and HOA mgmt information. Any buyer considering this home had just about any piece of information they could possibly want.
Within the 1st week, an agent that had not shown the home called me to say he was pretty sure he was going to be bringing me an offer but he just wanted to stop by to look at the house for himself. Turns out the buyers weren't coming to town for 2 weeks and they hadn't seen any other houses they liked. They didn't want to lose this house. They wanted their agent to look at the house to make sure it looked as good in person as it did in photos. On day 7 of listing the home, we had a contract from a buyer that had never stepped foot into the house. We ratified the contract 3 days later at 99.5% of list price and we closed 3 weeks later.
All that to say, buyers are out there looking for their perfect house. What are you doing to make your listing their dream home? I won't tell a seller to do anything I wouldn't do. That means, I'll give honest info about pricing your home even if it hurts. I'll make staging recommendations that are necessary so that we can have photos that show off your home in the best light. We'll do everything possible to market your home but that means we'll need your help in following through with recommendations and obtaining property info like survey, Covenants & Restrictions, etc. There is an equation to get a property sold but it can require some elbow grease and work to get the property ready as well as making a tough decision on pricing. But in the end in my case, based on past sales, I saved over $25,000 in carrying costs (mortgage, utilities, landscaping, etc) by pricing it right and getting the house in showcase condition and selling it in 10 days versus 18 months.
(Right PRICE + Best CONDITION including STAGING + cutting edge MARKETING exposure = SOLD!)
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Contact Michele Reneau, Top Real Estate Agent, North Charleston, SC Relocation Expert, CRS, GRI, ABR. 843-814-6680. Michele Reneau is a Certified Staging Professional Elite Instructor and teaches agents how to use staging to maximize their real estate business and Help Sellers Protect their Equity using Home Staging while earning the CSP Elite designation. She is also available for speaking engagements in on: How to use social networking to improve your real estate business, Why Home Staging is a Must in Today's Market, How to calculate market statistics and use them to understand and explain to sellers where the market is going using data, and discussing statistics with sellers to help them price their property to sell. Michele is a Certified Residential Specialist with a top real estate team in Charleston, SC. Featured on HGTV's House Hunters and Real Estate Executive Magazine. RESA 2009 Staging Realtor of the Year Nominee. The Charleston Relocation Experts Team specializes in military relocation, first time homebuyers and creating marketing exposure to sell your home in the Charleston SC Real Estate market. Michele can also be contacted by email at michele@CharlestonRelocationExperts.com.
Michele Reneau, ABR, GRI, CRS
www.CharlestonRelocationExperts.com
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with vacant homes need regular maintenance and sometimes curb appeal assistance--the most common being de-weeding, pinestraw addition and a good edging. The landscaper I'm going to recommend is someone that I utilize on my personal rental properties. Within 2 months of the new maintenance service, one of my tenants emailed me to let me know the lawn had never looked so good. Chris Straney of Good Earth Landscaping became my go-to guy for landscaping services. Chris makes my job easier. I always handle getting estimates for out of town clients and Chris is very accessible. I can just send him a text or email of the address with a short description of what is needed. And I get an email estimate within 24-48 hours. Not only is he accessible, he is reliable. I had previous service on my rental property and my tenants would call me to ask me when the lawn was going to be cut. Chris is at my property every 2 weeks and I don't worry about getting overlooked. And even better is that he takes before and after photos (one such example of before and after is pictured here). Since many of my clients are out of state, this is such a wonderful service that both my client and I appreciate. If you are in need of landscaping service, consider Good Earth Landscaping. Chris can be reached at 
first listing was occupied by the homeowners and the 2nd listing was vacant after they relocated out of the area. I previously blogged about this listing showing vacant, occupied and staged photos-
service men and women. I'm thankful for my father (22 years), husband (11 years), countless friends and clients who have served, as well as the 
United States until June 30, 2011. What a great way to honor our military heros with Veteran's Day approaching this week.
stop in for friendly and honest service at Geralds Tires and Brakes. They have truly mastered the art of customer service. I've been taking my car to Geralds for over 15 years. I'll never forget my first experience. I was 18 and drove a Mustang. The brakes had been squeaking and this college student was on her own. I took my car into a name brand auto shop known for brakes to find out what was wrong. The techinican told me my brakes needed to be replaced and it would cost $750. $750 to a college student might have well as been asking for my index finger. I couldn't afford $750! I drove away just about in tears wondering where I would come up with the money. I passed by Geralds in the bright orange building and decided to stop in for a 2nd opinion and hopefully a lower price. After 45 mins, a friendly face squatted beside my chair and said, "Ma'm, your rear brakes are squeezing because they need to be adjusted. We took care of it for you and there's no charge. Have a great day!" It was everything in me not to bear hug this man. I said, "Are you sure? Because I just got an estimate from someone else that told me my brakes had to be replaced."
add up, plus it can be tough to know where to start. For a limited time until Dec 31, 2009, you can purchase your "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town" pass which offers residents of Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties free one-time admission to 33 area attractions and discounts at 24 restaurants during the month of January 2010. Visit their website to view which attractions 
looking at the info below, prices have never been lower. In Charleston, SC, Moody's predicted that Charleston would only decline 1 more percent and the bottom would be in the 4th quarter of 2009. Now is the perfect time to buy, enjoy homeownership and be on the incline in the next 5 years. As a seller, you have to ask some tough questions. Can I hang on to the property for at least 5 years? If the rent doesn't cover the mortgage, can I pay the difference? Can I afford the necessary maintenance that may come up in the next 5 years i.e. water heater, dishwasher, HVAC, or roof replacement, HOA fees, regime fees, landscaping, carpet replacement, etc. Sometimes, it may be better to cut losses now when you consider the cost of maintenance and repairs.
can call any joe from the phone book, but we'd like to do a series on local vendors that you may need. For each vendor, we have had personal positive experience with them on our personal homes as well as for our clients that we have referred. It's often hard to find a serviceman that is honest, reliable and reasonably priced. So we will feature vendors with these wonderful traits so you have a firsthand recommendation. If you have need of a recommendation we have not listed yet, please feel free to call or email us for one.
I recently had an elderly client who had a soggy front yard. They instantly called a plumber from the phone book. I happen to check on her and she told me that it was going to cost over $600 to replace the pipe in the front yard from the meter to the house. I asked her to let me send out my plumber, Danny Wheeler of Village Plumbing and Electric, out for a 2nd opinion. He went out the next day and informed the owner that after turning off some valves to the house, he did not believe the pipe in the front yard was leaking. In fact, there was a busted water hose in the front yard. The spigot was turned on but because the hose busted, the nozzle wasn't stopping the water and it was soaking the ground. He also found some valves that needed replacing but the visit overall was only $100. Now, I can't speak for the 1st company that went out, but I can tell you that if you need an honest licensed plumber or electrician in the Charleston, SC area, you can count on Danny Wheeler of Village Plumbing and Electric. He has done lots of work personally for me including wiring an old house, adding new plumbing when we added a laundry room in one of our rentals and more. We have used him to have repairs done after home inspections and we are confident in referring our valued clients to him.